Postgame Avs-Wild: Fortunate in all phases tonight

ST. PAUL, MINN. – We don’t know how seriously Ryan O’Reilly’s injuries are just yet. But we know that he was released from the hospital in time to join the team back on its charter flight home to Denver after tonight’s win over the Wild.
That is obviously encouraging news.

Those were some scary minutes after the Avs’ young center tripped over Matt Cullen’s skate and went headfirst into the boards in the second period tonight. O’Reilly apparently moved some on the ice after going down, though I never saw any movement. We all know what the worst-case scenario would be in a situation like that. Thankfully, it seems O’Reilly has escaped that fate.

Things I don’t know at the moment: is O’Reilly walking on his own? Are there any broken bones? A concussion? The team is in the air as I type, so some of the answers to those questions are zooming across the sky now. O’Reilly’s left shoulder, along with his head and neck, really went hard into those boards. If he doesn’t have some kind of serious head injury, he might have a bad shoulder injury. We just have to wait for the official word still on that.

This is a scary game. Ever watch a game from the ice level? It’s an incredibly different experience. Things are going so fast out there. It all happens in split seconds, the whole time, and it’s always amazing to me whenever I see a game from that level, that there weren’t more serious injuries.

I really do believe that hockey players are the toughest, bravest athletes of them all.

The game tonight seemed incidental after O’Reilly’s frightening injury, but the Avs escaped with two points. Let’s face it, this was something of a fortunate win – although I don’t believe that the Wild “dominated” the game as some from the Minny side seemed to say after the game.

The Avs were certainly not dominated in the first period, when essentially the game was decided. They came out pretty strong, and I thought outworked the Wild in most areas. The final two periods were certainly dominated territorially by Minnesota, but I’m not sure there were too many truly dangerous chances surrendered by the Avs. And when there were, Craig Anderson was there.

I thought most of the Wild’s chances came from the outside, where Anderson usually makes the saves. Yes, Anderson got some luck from the goal posts. But as goalies like to say, the posts are part of the equipment. The Avs obviously got a lucky goal on their third one, on Tomas Fleischmann’s bouncer from near the blue line to make it 3-0.

The returns of Chris Stewart and Cody McLeod made a big difference. McLeod was all over the place, making hits and forechecking hard. Stewart looked rusty with the puck, but he still did some good things and his presence made it so the Wild had to pay more attention to him, opening up the game for other teammates.

If O’Reilly is on the shelf for any significant period of time, I would assume that TJ Galiardi would take his spot at center on the third line. Galiardi was a healthy scratch tonight, and Joe Sacco talked about why at the end of his post-game talk, which can be seen here. He starts off, of course, addressing the O’Reilly situation:

Hopefully O’Reilly is ok, the news that he was able to move is very, very good to hear it was terrifying watching him just lay there, could be a dislocation I’ve gone into the boards like that before and dislocated my shoulder and smacked my head and it was very hard to move, I had to be helped off the ice so hopefully it’s not a really really serious injury.

On another note, where are all those Wild fans that were talking so much trash after the last game?

myopiniontoo

That’s exactly what we thought, possibly a shoulder separation/dislocation or a strained neck.
Hope all’s fine for O’Reilly….Go Avs Go!!

Anonymous

Hopefully O’Reilly is ok, the news that he was able to move is very, very good to hear it was terrifying watching him just lay there, could be a dislocation I’ve gone into the boards like that before and dislocated my shoulder and smacked my head and it was very hard to move, I had to be helped off the ice so hopefully it’s not a really really serious injury.

On another note, where are all those Wild fans that were talking so much trash after the last game?

myopiniontoo

That’s exactly what we thought, possibly a shoulder separation/dislocation or a strained neck.
Hope all’s fine for O’Reilly….Go Avs Go!!

myopiniontoo

Just exactly why is TJ Galiardi sitting? I am a little miffed, he is one of our favorite Avs players, I daresay there are a few that he could replace, naming no one – just to be polite.

myopiniontoo

Just exactly why is TJ Galiardi sitting? I am a little miffed, he is one of our favorite Avs players, I daresay there are a few that he could replace, naming no one – just to be polite.

Mariechantal

Aside fromt he fact that O’Reilly got hurt and went off the ice on a stretcher, the Avalanche was yet again a strong team in the first half and didn’t show much in the second half. The same recurrent problem.

Mariechantal

Aside fromt he fact that O’Reilly got hurt and went off the ice on a stretcher, the Avalanche was yet again a strong team in the first half and didn’t show much in the second half. The same recurrent problem.

90mph

Stewart being back won us this game for sure. Like AD said, they had to pay attention to the biggest threat on the ice, leaving everyone else open.

That being said, it wasn’t a great game by any means, but it wasn’t terrible either. A strong start followed by a turtle. Lots of young teams do it, even if they don’t mean to.

Really glad O’Reilly is moving. That was a pretty scary moment. I was at my girlfriend’s house watching the game on my laptop and her whole family came over when it happened and they felt like total ****. That just goes to show how great hockey fans are.

And one last thing. This is the reason Minnesota is behind the 8 ball. They trash talk after a game they lost 4 – 1. That’s ridiculous. Sure they may have been on the puck for the later half of the game and what is that word again.. oh yeah! ‘dominate’ during that period. But if you look at the team as a whole, they only scored 1 goal.

90mph

Stewart being back won us this game for sure. Like AD said, they had to pay attention to the biggest threat on the ice, leaving everyone else open.

That being said, it wasn’t a great game by any means, but it wasn’t terrible either. A strong start followed by a turtle. Lots of young teams do it, even if they don’t mean to.

Really glad O’Reilly is moving. That was a pretty scary moment. I was at my girlfriend’s house watching the game on my laptop and her whole family came over when it happened and they felt like total ****. That just goes to show how great hockey fans are.

And one last thing. This is the reason Minnesota is behind the 8 ball. They trash talk after a game they lost 4 – 1. That’s ridiculous. Sure they may have been on the puck for the later half of the game and what is that word again.. oh yeah! ‘dominate’ during that period. But if you look at the team as a whole, they only scored 1 goal.

Guest

Hope the kid comes back soon, love his game. I dont want to say it because I dont want to ever see it happen, but I cant believe they dont care if they are grown men or kids or prision convicts.

Guest

Hope the kid comes back soon, love his game. I dont want to say it because I dont want to ever see it happen, but I cant believe they dont care if they are grown men or kids or prision convicts.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.